Judge Andrea R. Wood, who is overseeing the two Batton homebuyer commission lawsuits and the Moehrl commission suit, has recused herself from the cases, according to a legal filing on Wednesday.
In the filing, the Chicago-based U.S. district court judge said that it had recently come to her attention that the spouse of a person related to her within the third degree of relationship is a partner at a law firm that represents a defendant in the suits. Due to this, she was recusing herself.
“My relationship with this relative has not affected or impacted any decision in this case. Nonetheless, the relationship requires recusal under the Code of Conduct for United States Judges,” Wood wrote in her filing.
The code of conduct that Wood cited states that a “judge shall disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including but not limited to instances in which … the judge or the judge’s spouse, or a person related to either within the third degree of relationship, or the spouse of such person is … known by the judge to have an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding.”
Additionally, Wood noted that the committee on codes of conduct advised that “an equity partner in a law firm generally has ‘an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding’ in all cases where the law firm represents a party before the court.”
It is unclear as to how Wood’s decision will impact the future of the two Batton suits, which were slated to head to trial in late 2026 or early 2027. A hearing for the Batton I suit that was scheduled for Thursday has been cancelled.
